Back In Town
by Wonderwalll
Summary: After leaving for a month Ranger is finally back in town and back in Stephanie's life. The only problem? She has a new guy that won't let her leave. Is there any room for Ranger? First story so maybe go easy? R&R please! Rated T for language and violence
1. Chapter 1

RANGER AND STEPHANIE.

(I do not own any of these characters. They are all the creation of the fabulous Ms. Janet Evanovich. I am not making any money off of this)

CHAPTER 1

A picture can say a thousand words. At least that's what Ranger tells me. I'm not so sure... I've been sitting in my cubicle all day long examining the same photo's repeatably trying to figure them out and what they could possibly be saying. After a full hour I decided maybe these photo's weren't one's that wanted to speak so I left for a lunch break. I had been working at RangeMan for a good 3 months just so I could keep feeding me and Rex. Skips just weren't skipping as much anymore, I guess my reputation had finally blown full circle, I mean, it's either that or crime rate in Jersey really was going down!

I had barely made it to the break room when my cell phone rang. The call display said Lula. I wasn't sure if this was a call I wanted to take so close to lunch but I flipped my phone open anyway.

I had barely gotten out my usual greeting before Lula completely dominated the conversation.

"I bet you couldn't guess where I am right now, or where your grandma is but you get one hint, she's with me. Can I just say I don't know how you came from her because she's the bomb whereas your a bomb, a fucking walking bomb and believe me there's a difference." She yelled into the phone. I could here noise in the background, a lot of it.

"Where are you?" I yelled back, completely forgetting that I wasn't somewhere noisy so I probably didn't need to yell. Lula is a train wreck and my grandmother is out of control, together the two of them become an out-of-control-train-that-turns-into-a-wreck. It's one of those things that's so bad that you want to look away but no matter how hard you try you can't not look.

"If you can't even guess then you don't deserve to know" she exclaimed, almost sounding hurt that I didn't want to play along.

I could feel a headache coming on. Leaning against a frame of an open doorway I started rubbing my temples. Taking a deep breath to get my annoyance under control I said, "Okay, if I had to guess I would say the beauty parlor" knowing fully that the amount of noise in the background wouldn't be generated over there.

"Wrong! We're at Cluck-in-the-Bucket and you'll never guess whose here!" She was screaming by this point and it wasn't because of the noise. While her excitement level was rising up my patience level was on it's way down.

"Lula. I'm at work. How important is this?" I asked leaning my head against the wall and closing my eyes. Picking up my phone before lunch was always a bad idea. I knew this and yet I never listened to my instincts. Why. Why me?

"Listen up skinny white girl. That skip or should I say the only skip you're looking for is right here sitting across from me! How cool is this? How long till you're here? And how much do you owe me?" She asked.

"Kenny? As in Kenny Barrelli?" I asked, my eyes snapping open. Okay so I know that leaving work is irresponsible and that whole speech my mom used to give me, but technically I'm leaving work to do more work. Who says I don't take initiative? "I'll be there in less than ten" I said, taking the time to do the calculations in my head, if I took certain roads and hit green lights the whole way I could be there in five.

Snapping my phone closed I rushed back to my cubicle to grab my bag. I did a mental checklist of the things I should be bringing. Pepper spray? Check. Handcuffs? Check. Stun gun? The battery said low so I passed on it. Gun? I took one look at it and replaced it back into it's drawer, maybe another day. I turned around and flew out the door.

Unfortunately I didn't get very far, instead of going through the doorway like I normally do, I slammed into a hard body. The hit was hard and left me dazed for a couple seconds. I took a few steps back to look at the damage and my eyes met with another pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that created a low burning sensation in my stomach and that caused the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. We stood like that for what felt like minutes but in reality was only a couple of seconds. I allowed my eyes to slowly travel the length of his body. I hadn't seen Ranger for a full month. I could feel myself lick my lips. A full month, I decided, had been too long.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

"Babe" Ranger nodded at me.

The last time I had seen Ranger I was in a bad place. I had just left Morelli for good and was desperate for some sort of connection with another person. I had decided to confront him about his feelings for me. I mean, he was always going on about how he loved me in his own way so I figured that maybe we could have a chance at something. When I asked him about it though, he rejected me in his own way. He left.

So here we are now. I could feel all the blood rush to my face, hot with embarrassment. It took everything in me just to keep some sort of eye contact with him. I couldn't find any trace of emotion in his eyes, anything to tell me that our last conversation had affected him the same way it had affected me. In fact, he looked more relaxed than usual. Damn. Why did Ranger always have to be so... Ranger like?

I wanted to tell him right then and there that I had found somebody else. I wanted to yell from the rooftops that I was in love with somebody else and not him. Instead, because I was feeling a lot more mature lately or at least today, I decided on just nodding back and answering him with a quick "hey" all the while eyeing down the room for all possible exits.

Raising his eyebrows just enough for me to notice he moved into the whole doorway. Blocking any exits I might have realistically used. My mind immediately started to consider a plan B. Halfway through my process of thinking I had almost come to another possible conclusion when Ranger finally spoke again, shattering the silence that I had grown so used to.

"You're looking pretty lost Babe" he replied picking up on my body language.

"Nope not at all" I lied, the big fibber that I am always tended to rear it's ugly head in these situations. I wanted everything to be fine with us again. I didn't want to ruin whatever sort of relationship we had just because I had a bad case of word vomit.

I plastered a fake smile on my face and forced myself to look at him straight. "I was actually just on my way out. Lula called me with information on a skip and I was hoping that I can still catch him. Today could be my lucky day." I said.

In one swift move Ranger grabbed my wrists and had me pinned up against the wall beneath him. Leaning into me he whispered "You could get lucky any day. Just one word."

I could feel his warm breath on my neck. I closed my eyes inhaling his scent. When I finally opened them he was gone. That was thing about Ranger, he could hit me like a train but then dissolve into smoke, leaving me standing there alone, confused, and wondering if he had actually been there or if I was hallucinating.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped away from the wall and grabbed my bag. As I was walking towards the RangeMan garage I couldn't help but run over the emotions I had just felt. I thought that when Ranger had left, they had left with him. I was happy now. I was dating Pete. Pete was sexy, smart, and funny. Sure he had temper problems but it was nothing I couldn't handle.

Shaking my head clear I heard my cell phone go off. I fished around in my bag before I finally found it, swearing the whole time, I needed to clean this bag out. The call display read Ranger. What was with him? He left for a month and now he can't leave me alone for an hour?

"What?" I answered.

"Feeling cranky?" He asked. I could almost see him raising his eyebrows at me over the phone.

"I'm never going to catch this skip" I whined. By now Kenny was probably on his way to Rio, or under Lula. It depends on how she handled the whole situation without me. I wasn't sure which outcome I was hoping for.

"I just wanted to see if you'll do a distraction for me tonight." He said. Ranger never really asked. I could say no, but he knew I wasn't going to.

I heaved a great big sigh, "Fine, what time?"

"10:00pm, I'll pick you up at your place" he hung up. Feeling a little less mature, I stuck my tongue out at the phone.

Doing a mental head slap, I walked to one of Ranger's black SUV's. I could already feel it. Today was just going to be one of those days. My thoughts were confirmed when on the way to Cluck-In-A-Bucket I could have sworn I heard fire engine alarms from almost ten blocks away.

Pulling into the lot carefully avoiding all the emergency vehicles I scanned the crowd for Lula and my grandmother. Finally catching a glimpse of them, they were both talking to police officers. I didn't see any cuffs so this was a good sign. Just the sight of the state they were in though made me wish I had stayed to talk to Ranger a little longer.


	3. Chapter 3

(I do not own any of these characters. They are all the creation of the fabulous Ms. Janet Evanovich)

CHAPTER 3

I wish that what I was seeing in front of me was an irregular occurrence but unfortunately for some reason these things always happened to me. Why me? I asked myself for the second time today, I had that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that this wouldn't be the last time I would ask myself that today.

"Okay! Does anyone want to explain how this happened?" I asked, swinging an arm around me gesturing to not only the many emergency vehicles, a blackened building, a man in cuffs, and a big yellow chicken costume laying on the ground which was still smoking. I could also swear I saw some kids crying.

Lula had squeezed herself into a zebra print skirt and a bubble-gum pink stretch tank top. Her top had somehow shifted sideways showing off her bra which was a lovely shade of green. Her skirt was burnt around the bottom hem and she had a couple scrapes on her legs. Giving her a final once over, the only thing that surprised me was that she was actually wearing a bra. Not that it really contained anything anyway.

"Are you wearing a bra?" I asked, forgetting about the whole scene in front of me.

"Damn straight. It's a new thing I'm trying out on account of men are supposed to be more attracted to me when I wear it" she replied looking down at her barely covered breasts. "That's what the sales person told me" she said looking back at me. "Is it working?"

"I think so" I replied looking around and catching the stares of almost everybody around me. Almost everyone in the parking lot was staring a Lula's chest which she by now had puffed out to the extreme.

"I got myself one too!" My grandma piped up. Shifting my focus from Lula to her I noticed she was wearing a black spandex dress. I also noticed that her chest was about three sizes bigger which I'm guessing had to do with the bright red bra straps I could see showing underneath the dress. I was more concerned about the dress. How was I supposed to take her home to my mother? Even I wouldn't wear this dress! I could see things! Things a granddaughter is never supposed to see!

I could feel my eye starting to twitch.

"What happened?" I asked once more.

"Kenny was the man in the chicken suit!" Lula started "After you hung up the phone I went up to him to tell him he better not run on account you were on your way and that if he tried to run you would shoot him."

"Wait! You told him I would shoot him?" I asked.

"Do you know what that sucker did?" My grandma jumped in, completely ignoring my question. "He ran!" she yelled across the lot, getting carried away with excitement.

"So we chased him down. Thats what we bounty hunters do, we can't go making exceptions for anyone!" Lula said.

The more of the story I heard the less I wanted to know. I was one sentence away from clapping my hands over my ears and singing yankee doodle.

"It's not our fault he ran into the back! Who knew his costume was so flammable." My grandma said jumping back in.

Wait. What?

"His chicken tail was flopping around everywhere! I think it was Lula climbing over the counter that finally did him in. She was halfway over and she might have flashed him, although it's hard to tell by what he yelled. Anyway he turned around so fast that his chicken tail dipped into the oil!" She rambled on pausing to take a breath.

"His tail just sorta lit up. It didn't help that he ran around like an idiot after. I yelled at him to stop, drop, and roll! Everyone knows your supposed to do that. His tail lit everything else on fire! When you look at it though I think it was a pretty successful capture, considering he's in cuffs and all. He even get's a police escort!" Lula jumped in finishing the story, giving me a thumbs up at the end of it.

I stood there dumbstruck for a moment. "Do you think I still have to go down to the police station with him?" I asked.

"I dunno but I know I'm not! I still have a lunch to finish" Lula replied turning around and walking back into the fast food joint with my grandmother in a close follow.

After finally clearing some stuff up with the police, I headed down to the station to fill out some paperwork and collect my body check.

When everything was said and done, I finally headed back to my apartment. It was only 3 pm and I wanted to take a nap before I had to go out tonight. I parked and locked the SUV and walked into the building. There was no Mrs. Bestler in the elevator tonight. It felt lonely without her there but everybody deserves a night off every once in a while.

Turning the key in my doors lock I could already hear the TV going. Pete must have gotten off work early. Swinging the door open I walked into the kitchen and threw my stuff onto the counter.

"Hello?" I called out.

Pete walked into the kitchen running his hand through his hair. I gave him a once over. Pete was 6 foot something, solid muscle, short brown hair, fair skin, and a killer smile to match a few light freckles on his nose.

"How was work?" I asked. Pete was a lawyer, a good one too.

"I got out of the court room early today. It was an easy open and close case. I thought I could drop by and go grab some dinner with you" he said.

"I was actually just going to take a nap. I promised Ranger I would go help him out with a skip." I replied carefully choosing my words.

"I'm sure Ranger will be fine without you. Just call him back and tell him you can't make it." He said. Pete wasn't suggesting, he was telling me what to do.

"I already told him I would. I'm not backing out now. Besides how do you know he doesn't need my help?" I asked starting to feel a little pissed off.

"Stephanie please. It's not like your a grade A bounty hunter. He has an army at his disposal, he doesn't need you. Now lets go, I'm getting hungry. What are you feeling tonight?" he said, tapping his foot, putting emphasis on how impatient he was getting.

"I'm not feeling anything and I'm certainly not going anywhere with you! Ranger called me and asked and I said I would. I'm not changing my decision." I said my voice starting to raise with frustration.

"Fine." He replied. Grabbing his jacket he walked out my front door and slammed the front door behind him. Hard.

Sometimes Pete could really push my buttons.

I still felt angry as I made myself some toast. I was slamming things down everywhere. I made a couple of dents in the bread and almost broke my toaster. This day was turning my emotions into a tornado of fury. Burning my toast was the last straw. Grabbing it I turned and threw it against the wall.

It sailed right passed Rangers head and hit the wall with a thunk and fell to the floor. I almost passed out upon seeing Ranger. He hadn't been there a moment ago. I had been making so much noise I didn't even hear him come in. I probably wouldn't have heard him anyway because Ranger always moves like a cat.

We stood there for a while just looking at each other. I could feel my eyes start to well up with tears. I willed myself not to cry in front of Ranger. What was wrong with me today? Things like this never affected me this much.

Ranger walked over to me and pulled me into him wrapping his arms around me in a hug. Breathing his scent in I felt myself relax.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my question half masked by his body.

"I heard a small amount of what happened with Lula and your grandmother. I came for the full story. I could use a laugh."


	4. Chapter 4

(I do not own any of these characters. They are all the creation of the fabulous Ms. Janet Evanovich)

CHAPTER 4

"Babe there's something we should talk about" Ranger said looking into my eyes. We were strapping wires onto me, getting me ready for tonights distraction. I looked at him, there was hurt behind his eyes. Ranger rarely shows emotion, I couldn't figure it out.

"There's something you should..." he started trailing off when Tank his number one operations guy busted into the SUV.

"Are you ready? Jim just walked into the bar. It's now or never" Tank said looking at Ranger. "All set?" He asked turning to me.

"Yeah, I'm good" I replied but in my head I was screaming no! Not now! Ranger was just about to tell me something.

"You know the drill. Go get him" Ranger said, giving me a head nod.

I nodded my head in response. The drill? Nope. I never did it that way, it always turned out differently for me but the ending was always pure luck!

Walking into what was probably Jersey's most seediest bar I had to keep myself from cringing. The clientele wasn't much better, they matched the decor perfectly. With both my eyes and my eardrums adjusting to my surroundings quickly, I slid onto a bar stool right next to a guy in his late 50's who looked like he had seen and done too much. He had a scar running through his eyebrow and his body language screamed that he was someone I didn't want to cross. Sitting next to him could have been my worst mistake or my best, only time would tell.

I ordered myself a vodka soda and glanced around. Doing a quick glance of the place I caught sight of Rangers FTA, he was sitting at the other side of the bar across from me. He was the size of Vinnie, my weasel cousin, but somehow he was even greasier. If this guy was anything like Vinnie this distraction was going to be a piece of cake, all I would have to do is wink at the guy and he would probably follow me out the door in a heartbeat. The only problem was that he was all wrapped up in conversation with a blonde who looked one surgery short of becoming permanently plastic.

Damn. I looked down at my outfit. Short black skirt, low V-neck tank, and ankle breaking heels. It was workable. I looked across the bar again and realized his blonde friend was getting up to take a bathroom break. Opportunity was knocking at my door.

I flipped my hair over one shoulder and shot him my most sultry look. Or at least what I considered sultry. He must have felt my eyes because he glanced my way and caught my gaze. I held it for a second giving him a quick wink before turning to the guy next to me.

"Oh man I think I need to take a pee break" I said squealing, faking a good drunk. "Will you save my seat?" I asked.

The guy who by now looked increasingly like a hired killer just looked at me and grunted. Man language.

I grabbed my drink and gulped the rest of it down before leaving it on the bar. "Thank you!"

I stumbled towards the bathroom, which happened to be almost right next to Ranger's FTA. Halfway there I bumped into someone. Looking up into the eyes of the FTA I smiled a big drunken smile.

"Hey there" I breathed into his ear, pressing myself into his body. Ranger owed me so big for this one. I had to hold my breath to keep down the puke slowly rising. This guy smelled bad.

"I couldn't help but notice you from across the bar" He replied.

"What? I can't hear you!" I yelled over the music.

"I noticed you from across the bar" He yelled back.

"What?" I yelled again. I shook my head and batted my eyelashes at him. I pointed to the door leading outside, hoping that he would get my meaning and follow me outside where Ranger was waiting.

He did. He nodded and turned me around. He had his arm around me and was leading me outside. It took all my effort not to turn and hit him. This all felt extremely claustrophobic.

As soon as we got out the door Ranger's men were all over him. I also felt somebody all over me. I whipped around and came face to face with Pete. What?

"Pete? What are you doing here?" I asked.

"So this is what you do to help Ranger out?" He asked, his temper flaring "what the hell are you wearing?"

"How did you find me?" I asked ignoring his questions completely.

"I followed you. This is such bullshit" He yelled.

"You followed me? So you can't trust me now? I told you I'm helping Ranger out with a skip and you decide to follow me?" I yelled back.

"This sure looks like help. Wearing this and then picking up other guys on the side! How am I supposed to trust you?" he asked.

At that moment the guy who was sitting next to me at the bar, the one who looked like a hired hit man came bursting through the door.

"What's going on out here?" he yelled. Turning to me he asked, "are you okay?"

This was getting to be too much. I had Ranger, Pete, Ranger's skip, and this new guy all looking at me just waiting for my word for one of them to attack one another.

"Everybody just calm down" I said trying to tone down the testosterone a couple of notches. "I'm fine thank you" I told the scary guy. Although reluctant to leave he gave me another nod and walked back into the bar.

Ranger handed over his FTA over to Tank and walked towards Pete.

"You are?" He asked. No trace of any emotion on his face.

"I'm Stephanie's fiance" he replied taking a few steps closer to me so that he was right up against me, trying to claim what he thought was his.

Wait. What?

Fiance?

Not the last time I checked.

I looked over at Ranger. He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"I guess she's all yours then" he replied and turned to walk away.

"Wait." I called after Ranger. "Can I get a ride with you? Please?" I asked trying not to sound too desperate but I couldn't help it. I didn't want to be around Pete. He was starting to scare me. I had only been with him for a couple of months and now I was his fiance? This was not happening.

Ranger turned around and caught my gaze. He nodded towards the Porsche which I figured was the go ahead signal.

"Stephanie. If you go with him we're done." Pete warned me.

I kept walking, the word 'fiance' was still ringing in my ears. I slid into the passengers seat of the Porsche and buckled myself in. Ranger peeled away from the parking lot and we set off towards my apartment.

"Do you want to tell me what happened back there?" Ranger asked. I disabled the mic on my bra and looked at him. He was staring at the road.

"He's not my fiance. He was my boyfriend." I replied.

"He's got a temper" Ranger observed. "You feel safe with him?"

"Not anymore" I replied. Ranger remained silent until finally I couldn't take it anymore. "Pull over" I said.

Pulling the car to a stop on the side of the road Ranger turned to look at me.

"Babe" He replied. That one word. It was such a little word yet it could infuriate me so much.

"What? You left Ranger! Who was supposed to help keep the bad guys away?" I asked starting to get a little worked up in the process. How could Ranger have the nerve to judge me and judge Pete?

"You were supposed to go back to Morelli. That's where you belong Steph, with a man who can give you what you looking for. I told you before that my love doesn't come with a ring. That hasn't changed" He replied.

"That's fine." I said turning away from him and sitting back into my seat. Ranger started up the car again and got back onto the road again.

After minutes of silent driving which seemed to pass like hours I finally noticed that we weren't driving in the direction of my apartment.

"Where are we going?" I asked already knowing the answer, dreading it.

"Back to RangeMan. You can stay in one of the apartments there but I don't want you alone in yours." He stated it like it was an order. I had no choice.

A couple more moments of silence passed until finally he spoke up again. "There's something off about Pete. I feel like I've met him before and with my past thats normally not a good thing."

**Sorry it's taking me so long to update. I'll try to be a little faster with the next one.

Read and Review Please!


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